back in action
For the past couple weeks nothing significant has happened to me, so I haven't spent the time to post anything new. But now that I'm back in the bike park my life seems to have shifted into a higher gear.
I had my first run in the park yesterday, accompanied by my first patio beer; and I'm still not sure which was better. The ride was awesome, but biking and beer go together hand in hand. Tom Pro and I rode Upper Shleyer to Karate monkey to A-line, and let me tell you, it was gooooood! The majority of the trails have weathered the winter quite well and are ready to take you on from 9 until 6 on the weekends, and from 10 until 5 during the week.
On my first day back at work yesterday, Shem Parker and I started the day by clearing the trails of all the trees that had fallen down over the winter (as seen here). It was actually quite entertaining cruising around in the quads through deep patches of snow and mud as seen here on "easy does it". Just to be able to open the park as expected, Shem has been busting his balls clearing away fallen trees like these ones, that were 20 feet past the landing for the Dirt Merchant step-up. What a redneck! I can't go on without giving major props to the rest of the trail crew, the patrollers, and everyone else in prepping the trails and park for another big season.
Anyways, as our morning tapered into the afternoon Shem and I decided it would be a worthwhile project to amp up the A-line entry drop (as seen here and here and here and here). We jacked up the take off over a foot higher than it was before so it is no longer rollable, and more of a mandatory feature. The wooden landing is bordering on the skinny side but we'll do something about it later if there are any complaints.
Other than that, John Cowan and his crew have been making incredible progress in the boneyard (here and here) with hopes of an earlier than usual opening. I had some great photos of Cowan running an excavator building some stunts, but my memory card decided it didn't like the photos very much so I'll have to re-take them tomorrow. Also, for those of you who plan to ride in the boneyard this year, expect everything to be amped up in typical Whistler Bike Park fashion. For example, (and I'll try to snap a photo of it tomorrow) the staff housing box is built up on a platform which considerably increases the size of the stunt. So if your confidence is soaring and your skills are honed, be prepared for a fun time.
Random stuff:
Here is a crankworx ad taken from the pique newsmagazine. Here and here are some articles taken from the sports section of The Question newspaper in Whistler. Here is a video of Shem Parker and me cruising down easy-does-it on ATV's looking for fallen trees.
And just in case they decide to get angry with me, here are their internet addresses: www.piquenewsmagazine.com and www.whistlerquestion.com
For more information on the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, log on to www.whistlerbike.com or call 1-866-218-9690.
